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Bee pain not about the sting (VIDEO)

Billerica family say farm's hives cover neighborhood in excrement

By Rick Sobey, rsobey@lowellsun.com

Updated:
07/05/2016 08:05:44 AM EDT

"It's one thing for excrement to damage our property, but we're not sure what it's doing to our health," said Serry Gouveia, with his wife Mannie at their Billerica home. SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE / JOHN LOVE

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BILLERICA -- What's it like living in a bathroom?

Ask Serry and Mannie Gouveia, who feel like they reside in one.

No, not a 40-square-foot room where it'd be nearly impossible for a family to live.

Family members say they're residing in a bathroom because their property happens to be the "toilet" for bees from a nearby bee farm.

Throughout May and June, the Gouveias say their cars, deck and other parts of their property get covered in bee excrement. They'll walk outside for a few minutes and have excrement on their shirt or in their hair, they say.

Enough is enough, they said, catching the attention of town officials.

"We can't live like this anymore," said Mannie, 52, who has been at the home with her husband, Serry, 53, since they built it in the early 1990s.

The Gouveia family claims bees from a nearby bee farm regularly defecate on their cars, deck and home. Serry Gouveia said it's very difficult to clean the bee excrement off their vehicles. Courtesy photo

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They also have a 21-year-old daughter, and an 11-year-old son.

"It's gotten to the point where we can't even use our yard in May and June," she added. "We don't want to remove a business, but this is a nuisance in a residential neighborhood, and it's damaging our property."

They say the bees are coming from a 55-acre farm on the outskirts of Billerica, a town of about 40,000 people bordering Lowell to the south and where Merrimack Valley Apiaries operates. The third-generation family business -- now among the nation's largest beekeepers with close to 30,000 hives across the country -- was brought to Dudley Road in the 1970s.

They raise both the queens and the bees, which in turn produce the honey that they sell.

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Merrimack Valley Apiaries produces more than one million pounds of raw honey each year.

Glenn Card's grandfather started the business in 1958.

"There's nothing we can do to change the bees' flight path," said Card, 32. "It's a natural flight pattern where every day they fly to the best source of food. We don't tell them where to fly.

"What am I supposed to do? Get rid of the bees and this three-generation business, and stop doing what I do?" he added.

The Gouveias, who live a half-mile from Merrimack Valley Apiaries, did not say that Card should shut down his business. They're arguing that Card should move his business to a non-residential area.

If a horse or another animal ran wild and damaged a neighbor's property, the town would put a stop to it, Serry used as an analogy.

"This should be no different even though they're bees," said Serry. "They should fly on their own property away from a residential neighborhood.

"It's one thing for excrement to damage our property, but we're not sure what it's doing to our health. Are we living in a cesspool?" he added. "Aside from getting covered, you also have to deal with getting stung."

Card emphasized that the bee excrement does not cause permanent damage, nor are there any health risks from it.

It's part of living next to a farm, Card added.

"We don't tell them where to go to the bathroom," he said. "They just go to the bathroom where they go. It's the same as birds that poop. That lands on cars and property, too."

Wayne Andrews, vice president of the Massachusetts Beekeepers Association, stressed that there's no health risk from the excrement, which he described as a light-brown to dark-brown droplet.

Andrews added that the bees don't feed on any human products -- they collect pollen, nectar and water -- so they don't pick up human diseases.

"I've never heard of any harmful bacteria coming from them," Andrews said.

He has heard, however, of such neighborhood feuds between beekeepers and residents nearby.

"Bees defecate away from the hive, so it can lead to droplets on cars and laundry," Andrews said. "It generally washes off well, but I've heard of complaints."

The Gouveias say they've spent hours upon hours cleaning the excrement off their cars and deck. Even after cleaning, the excrement leaves marks on their cars.

They "pray" for rain to soften the excrement, making it easier to clean.

Now, the family is praying the town can do something about the situation. Town Manager John Curran called it a "legitimate issue" that needs to be addressed.

"It's a challenge because it's not something you see every day," Curran added.

Selectman John Piscatelli reached out to town counsel for an opinion, which suggests that if the town's health director determines the situation is a nuisance -- interfering with the family's ability to enjoy their house or yard -- then the town can take action.

"The town could ask them to relocate their hives on their property, or could stop them from raising the bees there," Piscatelli said.

Deputy Police Chief Roy Frost said they visited the Gouveia residence last week to check out the situation. He confirmed that there was a significant amount of bee excrement.

"We believe what they're telling us is true, about where it's coming from, but it's not like the bees are trespassing," Frost said. "It's a real difficult situation, a real bizarre situation.

"We want to respect businesses to operate and for people to live in their home without being infringed upon," he added.

If the town ends up not taking any action, the Gouveias said they'll be forced to sue because of the impact on their house's value.

Their real-estate agent has told them they can't put the house on the market without disclosing the problem, which would decrease its value.

"We have private property here, and we can't even use it at times," Mannie said. "I want to come out on my deck and read a book without getting hit by bee poop. I want us to grill outside without bee poop landing on the food.

"We've thought about moving, but we'd have to disclose it and we love this house," she added. "We built this. This is where we raised our kids."

The town's health director, Rich Berube, could not be reached for comment.

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